Vacant White House cyber post draws concern amid global software breach
Summary
Cybersecurity experts are warning that a potential cyber leadership vacuum in the federal government may prevent agencies from recovering and responding to a sprawling ransomware attack that has already exposed millions of Americans personal data. Since the news of the global attack was first reported, a variety of federal and state agencies, banks and private sector organizations also confirmed they were victims and that data may have been stolen from millions of customers. The lack of an appointed national cyber director "has hindered the administrations response" to the MOVEit exploit "and has allowed such attacks to become more damaging and disruptive," according to Mike Walters, vice president of vulnerability and threat research and cofounder of the security patch management software Action1. However, Hamerstone acknowledged that the lack of an official replacement could signal that the federal government is not adequately prepared to respond to major cyberattacks. CISA Director Jen Easterly told reporters last week that the cyber defense agency is "not tracking a significant impact against the civilian .gov enterprise" from the MOVEit breach.